The Midrash (Vayikra Rabba 7:1) notes that throughout the discussion of the priestly service, the Torah consistently refers to the Kohanim as \u201c\u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d4\u05e8\u05df, the children of Aharon\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u05d5\u05d6\u05e8\u05e7\u05d5 \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d4\u05e8\u05df,\u201d \u201c\u05d5\u05e2\u05e8\u05db\u05d5 \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d4\u05e8\u05df,\u201d \u201c\u05d5\u05e0\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d4\u05e8\u05df\u201d<\/em> \u2013 \u201cthe children of Aharon should give,\u201d \u201cthe children of Aharon should lay,\u201d \u201cthe children of Aharon should throw\u201d<\/em> (Vayikra 1:7, 1:8, 1:11)<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, at the beginning of our parsha, a slight change is made:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u05e6\u05d5 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d0\u05d4\u05e8\u05df<\/strong> \u05d5\u05d0\u05ea \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5, command Aharon<\/strong> and his children\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Torah does not simply refer to the children of Aharon as before, but this time includes Aharon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To account for this discrepancy, the Midrash highlights Aharon\u2019s personal role in this service. The Midrash relates that Moshe noticed the absence of Aharon in the commands above, and Moshe assumed Aharon\u2019s involvement with the golden calf caused the omission. Moshe beseeches G-d to discontinue referring to the Kohanim as \u201cbnei Aharon, the children of Aharon,\u201d and G-d accepts Moshe\u2019s request. Our parsha begins with \u201cAharon and his children,\u201d highlighting Aharon\u2019s personal role in the service and representing that Aharon has been forgiven for the golden calf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This insightful Midrash begs the question: why is it at this point that the Torah hints to forgiveness? Our parsha begins with the seemingly underwhelming task of the terumat hadeshen<\/em>, a daily ritual in which the Kohen removes the remaining ashes from the previous day\u2019s korbanot. While removing the leftover ash seems to be a practical necessity, one would expect Aharon\u2019s personal involvement to be stressed within the portions of our parsha that depict the more sacred rituals and sacrifices, not the mere removal of ashes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his sefer Dorash Dovid, Rabbi Dovid Hofstedter explains the relevance of Aharon\u2019s mention specifically in conjunction with the terumat hadeshen<\/em>. The Talmud (Megilla 10b) states that the days of the inauguration of the mishkan were days of tremendous celebration and excitement. Judaism encourages mankind to serve G-d out of happiness, but serving G-d out of jubilation has a risk of leading to a loss of focus. In the course of all this excitement, the Kohanim were prone to overlook the significance and magnitude of their task. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The terumat hadeshen<\/em>, removal of the ashes, serves to realign the Kohen\u2019s focus. After the initial excitement of offering the korbanot, the Kohen assigned with this task wakes up early the next day and clean up the leftovers from the previous day\u2019s service. Removing the ashes would seem unexciting, perhaps tedious, but nevertheless its performance was a sacred task. The Kohen stands with his broom and dustpan, with little fanfare, perhaps with a bit less enthusiasm, and has an opportunity to reflect on why he\u2019s there in the first place: because it\u2019s what G-d requests of him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At a moment like this, the Torah alludes to Aharon receiving his forgiveness. The service which lacks natural enthusiasm forces the Kohen to channel his inner emotions and challenges him to serve G-d out of the utmost sincerity. This is where Aharon\u2019s forgiveness deserves mention. Aharon had repaired his relationship with the Almighty and reached a level of being a faithful servant, and there is no better place to mention this than by the terumat hadeshen<\/em>, a sublime service for the sincere Kohen who chooses to make it such.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Midrash (Vayikra Rabba 7:1) notes that throughout the discussion of the priestly service, the Torah consistently refers to the Kohanim as \u201c\u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d4\u05e8\u05df, the children of Aharon\u201d: \u201c\u05d5\u05d6\u05e8\u05e7\u05d5 \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d4\u05e8\u05df,\u201d \u201c\u05d5\u05e2\u05e8\u05db\u05d5 \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d4\u05e8\u05df,\u201d \u201c\u05d5\u05e0\u05ea\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d4\u05e8\u05df\u201d \u2013 \u201cthe children of Aharon should give,\u201d \u201cthe children of Aharon should lay,\u201d \u201cthe children of Aharon should throw\u201d (Vayikra […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"saved_in_kubio":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,10,38,42],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions\/328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}